Safety device for can seamers



July 22, 1952 J. G. HARRIS SAFETY DEVICE FOR CAN SEAMERS Filed July 25, 1949 INVENTOR. e/on Ci. Harris.

ATTORNE Patented July 22, 1,952

SAFETY DEVICE FOR can sesame John G. Harris, Enid, Okla, assignor to Swiftz Company, Chicago, 151., a corporationof Illinois Application Juiy 23, 1949, Serial No. 536,459 8 Claims. 01. 113-4) The present invention relates to a safety guard for semi-automatic machines of a type exemplified by a can closing machine.

In a number of machines common in industry today the object upon which work is to be performed by the machine is clamped therein by being inserted into proper position by a manual operation, and two portions of the machine are brought together with sulficient force to hold the object in place. The clamping force may be manually applied or itmaybe a mechanical force, as from an electric or fluid motor, initiated by the actions of the operator. With thes machines the operator must beconstantly alert so as not to catch his hand or fingers within the machine when the clamping force is applied.

Typical of some of the machines in which this problem arises is a can closing machine in which a table is mechanically raised to bring the unsealed can into position against the machine head where the closing operation is performed.

The cans are placed on and removed from the tables by the manual manipulations of an operator. Despite constant safety education and warnings the operators of such machines will forget,

and have afinger above or below the can when the table is raised. The result is a painful and often serious injury.

operator attempt to insert the can or other object into the machine with the fingers being positioned other than at the sides of th can, such movement will be prevented until the operator moves his fingers to the properposition where they will not be caught.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Fig. l. is a front elevation of a can closing machine with the present invention positioned thereon,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of with the machine of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a section taken at line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the relationshipsv between the table, can-closing chuck, guard member, and can in the present invention.

the safety device used The can closing machine illustrated in Fig. 1 includes a frame l3 carrying aloading table It and a machinehead [5. The can closing machinery,v the particular details of which form no part of the present invention, located in head I5 is operated by motor l6. The machine is adapted to secur a cover on the upper end of unclosed cans ll whichare manually transported across loading table l i to agvertically movable inset I8 therein. The inset 13, or" moving table, is moved up and down by suitable power me'ans'actuating vertically movable rod I9 connected to tabl 18.

After the can. H on table It is brought into proper position to be raised into machine head It, the operator -=depresses.- pedal 22, with his foot thereby initiating thefvertical movement of rod It to raise'the table; Asthe can I! is raised by means ofv table lfiit passes into an aperture in the lower portion .of head 15.. Meanwhile, from a stack 2! of can covers, a feeding mechanism 20 has positioned asinglecan cover over the aperture into which the can is raised so that as'the can is brought into position inithe machine head E5 in contact with a conventional chuck ,(not shown), the position of, the bottom of which is indicated, however, at 3| in Fig. 1, the cover and the can may be suitably folded and spun to close the can. f v I While the operators constantly arecautioned to lreep their hands about the sides of can -ll, ever so often onewill forget and have a finger hookedover the top or bottomof the can at the time pedal 22 is depressed to initiate the machine action. Under ,such circumstances the operators fingeris caught either-between the can and the table or between the can and the'machine; head with a resultinginjury to the operator.

To prevent suchaccidents from occurring I have devised a safety device 24Zwhich may beapplied tc a rnachine of thistype and- .WhlCh is readily adaptable to other machines having a similar operating problem but being of somewhat different. specific design. ;,In' the present instance the-safety device 24 preferably'includes a disc 25 to which is secured an angle 26 to act as a mounting bracket. The bracketv is secured'to frame l3 by suitable means such as stud bolts N. The

disc .2 5, substantiallyv circular, has an opening 29 in anrintermediate; portion .thereof. The opening 29 is of suflicient size, and properly positioned, to allow the can ll to move therethrough as the canis lo rough't machine head [5 by the raising of table [3... nfthe illustrated mbodirment a cut-out'fiflis'ih the disc 25 to allow for the movement oftt'he feeding mechanismi ii in positioning a cover. With other machines not having the problem of such a feeding mechanism, the disc 25 is preferably a full circle.

The position of the bottom of the disc 25 with respect to the top of the can I! as it rests on table I4 is particularly critical. That distance as represented by dimension a must be sufficient to allow the can to be easily moved across the table [4 and into proper position upon table l8. However, the distance must be sufiiciently small so that the operators fingers will not fit between the top of the can I! and the bottom of disc 25, preferably the dimension a is not substantially greater than one-fourth of an inch. In other words, the throw or vertical rise of table l8, actuated by the vertical movement of rod I9, must be such as to bring the top of the can into engagement with the can-closing machinery in head [5, as is conventional in can-closing machines of this type. 7 It is also highly desirable that the safety device 24 be in the form of a-disc rather than merely a ring telltale. Through the use of a disc having an aperture 29 just sufficiently large to accommodate can 11, the operator is forced to removehis fingers from the ends of the can before the can will fit under the disc and normally is prevented from slipping a finger over the end of the can until it is again removed from the machine. While it is possible that an operator may intentionally get a finger above the can after it has been centered under aperture 29, it is extremely unlikely thatthis could be done as an unconscious movement. If the safety device consisted, of only a ring having only a nominal width as measured parallel to the table Hi, the operator might easily get into the habit of having a finger over the top of the. can and by tilting the can in at an angle being able to pass the guard without removing the finger from the top of the can. The width of disc 25 between the periphery thereof and aperture 29 prevents any such procedure from occurring with my invention Referring to Fig. 4 of the drawings, a schematic illustration of the relative positions of the various elements is shown. .The chuck or other conventional can-closing equipment is indicated at 3|. As in the usual case, the table l8 moved by rod l9 raises the can to a closing position Within chuck 3|, at which position the attaching of the lid to the can takes place. When the can is at this closing position, the top of the can is at a given line 32 within chuck 3|. Thus the amount that table l8 raises can I! is indicated by dimension 12. Guard 24 is positioned between the table I8 and the. chuck 3i so that the spacing between said line 32in the chuck and the bottom of the guard 24 is equal to the distance of the table movement 1 .less a distance smaller than the thickness of a finger a. v

The holes in bracket 26 for receiving bolts 21 are preferably elongated to facilitate adjustment of, the distance between thedisc 25 and the table l4 so as to accommodate different sizes of cans. Other means may be used to accomplish a similar purpose, such as a plurality of holes in bracket 26, or a plurality of tapped holes in frame [3 to receive stud bolts 21 v Thus, the guard may be readily added to existingtumachines and with a simple adjustment a machine may be set for the closing of one type of cans one day and another. type of cans the next day. Despite the simplicity of installation and adjustment, the guard will assure that the necessary safety precautions are taken. I

The foregoing description is for the purpose of complying with Section 4888 of the Revised Statutes and should not be construed as including any unnecessary limitations upon the appended claims inasmuch as from the foregoing description, certain modifications will be apparent. For example, if the machine should be of a type in which the machine head I5 is movable in a vertical direction rather than table l8 being movable, the guard 24 should be at a fixed distance with respect to the head l5 and should move therewith.

I claim:

1. In a manually loaded can-closing machine the combination of a can-closing chuck member, a table member adapted to support the can to be closed, one of said members being mounted for movement from a first position toward the other of the members a given distance to bring a can placed on said table member into sealing position in said chuck member with the top of the can at a given line in'said chuck member, and a guard disc positioned between said members and above said can, the spacing of the bottom of the guard disc from said lin in said chuck member being equal to said given-distance less a distance smaller than the thickness of a finger.

2. In a manually loaded can-closing machine the combination of a can-closing chuck member, a table member adapted to support the can to be closed, one of said members being mounted for movement from a first position toward the other of the members a given distance to bring a can placed on said table member into sealing position in said chuck member with the top of the can at a given line in said chuck member, and a guard disc positioned between said members and above said can, said guard disc having a portion thereof cut away to allow the can to project therethrough as said movable member travels from said first position toward the other of the members, the spacing of the bottom of the guard disc from said line in said chuck member being equal to said given distance less a distance smaller than the thickness of a finger.

3. In a manuallyrloaded can-closing machine the combination of a can-closing chuck member, a table member adapted to support the can to be closed, one of said members being mounted for movement from a first position toward the other of the members a given distance to bring a can placed on said table member into sealing position in said chuck member with th top of the can at a given line in said chuck member, and a guard disc positioned between said members and above said can, said guard disc forming an aperture in a substantially central portion thereof to permit the can to be raised therethrough by the motion of said movable member, the spacing of the bottom of the guard disc from said line in said chuck member being equal to said given distance less a distance smaller than the thickness of afinger.

4. In a manually loaded can-closing machine the combination of a can-closing chuck member, a table member adapted to support th can to be closed, one of said members being mounted for tion in said chuck member with the top of the can at a given line in said chuck member, and a guard disc positioned between said members and above said can, said guard disc having a substantially central opening between the fiat faces thereof, the size of said opening being greater than the cross-sectional dimensions of the can,

' said disc being substantially greater in external dimensions than the side of said opening to provide a wide face about at least the greater portion of said opening, the spacing of the bottom of the guard disc from said line in said chuck member being equal to said given distance less a distance smaller than the thickness of a finger.

6. The method of operating a manually loaded can-closing machine having'a closing head, a vertically reciprocable can-supporting member, and an apertured plate therebetween positioned generally parallel to said member, said method comprising positioning said plate and said member, in its lower position a sufiicient distance apart to permit said can to be inserted therebetween only if the operator does not have a finger at the ends of the can adjacent said plate or member and thereafter raising said member to bring said can in contact with said head to close said can.

7. The method of operating a manually loaded can-closing machine having a closing head, a vertically reciprocable can-supporting member,

and an apertured plate therebetween and positioned generally parallel to said member, when said machine is used by an operatorto close cans having a given height, said method comprising positioning said plate from said member in its lowest position a distance greater than the height of said can but less than the height of said can plus the thickness of the operator's fingers and thereafter raising said member to bring said can in contact with said head to close said can.

with a vertically reciprocable can-closing machine having a closing head and a can supporting member and used for closing cans having a given height, said method including positioning said plate parallel to said member between said member and said head and spaced from said member a distance greater than said height, with said distance being insufiicient to allow a can to be inserted therebetween it the finger of the operator is over either end of the can, and thereafter raising said member to bring said can in contact with said head to close said can.

7 JOHN G. HARRIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,408,713 Peyser Mar. 7, 1922 1,605,147 Sebell Nov. 2, 1926 1,716,618 Bryant June 11, 1929 1,706,056, Dodson Mar. 19, 1929 1,777,555 DYarmett Oct. 7, 1930 1,948,818 Kettering Feb. 27, 1934 1,941,972 Cameron Jan. 2, 1934 8. A method of using a fiat apertured plate 

